Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1887-02-21
rContiuued from second page. I
mon sch Dol education. and be qualified to
become in after life good citizens,

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ton. The American people believe in
protecting the industries of this country !;
they believe in protecting its citizens;
the laborer, and In protecting the wage
Garner in all his rights. throwing around
him every safeguard which wisdom can
devise. the chosen career of the Ameri-
can peosle is a career of peaceful indus
try. 1t is the great end aud great aim of
our people, to preserve for the use of man
this great country. and to transmit it to
future generations as magnificent herl-
tage.
This measure, if it becomes a law, will.
in my judgment, serve to correct. in a
very large Dc gree. The abuses which the
Indifferent parent and the avaricious man
ufaciurer would lay upon innocent child
: hood, and the unfortunate poor; but say
what We may, and do what we can here
in the way of legislation. our Door words
and restricted acts sink into utter insignif
cance. unless the national government
shall shape its Legislation so as to main
tain the protective feature IN our tariff
system.
The system of a protective tariff is the
basis of all industrial questions; it en-
/ dDitS All lHuiSTItS W lLiltC anu ptoSpCi ),
and uliima,el enables the country to COM
pete with foreign supplies; and these
questions canno, be inielligenlly discussed
unless we compare our growth as a Pro
ective Tariff Republic with Free Trade
England. Our surplus products have been
growing with our population. In 1860
hey were three hundred millions ct dol
lars; in 1880 they had iistn to $50 mil
-. a a H.,
fallen in like proportion. Formerly our
iron and steel our cotton goods. largely
lcafne from abroad; now we compete sue
ces>fully with every foreign power in the
markets of the world. Our exports of
cotton goods more than trebled in the last
three decades. We have in this country
to dav over | 100 cotton factories, and
nearly $500 wooden factories. giving en-
ploymenl to hundreds Of Thousands of per
sons. And while We are using every hon
est endeavor to increase The ma'erial
wealth OF this country, we sh ,uld not for
get that onr highest duty is to el-vae aud
IN every way within our power dignity
human labor. We must not lose sight of
he great fact that in America. under the
Influences of protective tariff, wages are
vastly higher than any where else on the
globe. The American wage worker can
a he desires. find lite richly laden with the
fruits of industry.
The hours OF labor, the frequency of
payment, the exemption from the trustee
recess of the pay of the wage Garner.
the abolition of Imprisonment tor debt, The
peaceful settlement by arbitration of all
disputes, are questions which are now agi-
eating all classes Of people in this country.
md they are questions which We cannot
evade or escape. 1t our duly as citizens,
it is our duty rs legislators. II is the duty
OF those OF US who are members Of the
great republican party hich is necessarily
the friend and champion of the lahoring
man, to see to it that we settle, SO Tar As
we have the power, and settle rightly,
these questions. But above and beyond
all. let lis see to it that in the revision of
the tariff which is at our very doors we
d' not ial TO impress upon our law makers
1t Washington that the protective feature
Of our tariff is more essentl to The we'll
being of the wage Garner in This country
than all else beslde whatever party or in.
ividual who processes to be friend Of
he laboring man and at the same time
would strike down the protective features
f our tariff laws is either deceived him
self or is decriving others. Nowhere on
the face of the earth does labor receive
he reward. nor is it given the dignity,
hat Is conferred upon 1t by This republic
Thanks Ia the republican party. FIR II was
through lis inStrumeutalmy that the Dec
aration of lndep ndence. declaring that
ali men are free and equal. was made "A
living reali V, Under no other government,
and not under this government until the
republican, party hao gained lull control Of
TIE national legislation, was every hum
being wi,hC its bur'lers made Il perfectly
Tree itzen, with absolutely equal righ
before the law. We cannot possess equal
y'f physical power, or mental capacity,
Tor can we all cij " equal privileges OF
we; lth, but we are all free citizens Every
avenue /" sucress and prosperity. To y
lucal preferment and business advance
mcnr. is open to all Under our form of
government labor is dignliird and any
honest toilcr can hold aluft his het I'd win
respect and pride
We are, to day. the weal'hiest nation in
the world. We are the greatest agrtcult
ural, manufacturing and mining nation ot
the ear,h The United Sla'eS, to dN.
leads every other civilized nation in The
world in the amount of its agr cul uril
proiucts, in the number of its IN inutactn
ries. in the products of its mines We
possess more wealth, accumula m ire
daily. than any other nation, aud we have
less debt per capita: and more than all
this, we pay higher wages to wage earn
er-, and the purchasing power of the H.
lar is greater here than in any other ppr-
ton of the W rid. 1t is well for Us to re-
view the present condition of this country,
OF its vastness and growth, because we
believe that. in great mea ure. it is pr-
marily due to the Iutl hence OF the repub.
can party, in not only establ hing the
equality of man. but due to the repubi-
Can party tor establishing and m lin aiming
in This country, the doctrine of protection
to American industries, which alone has
enabled this country to gain its wealth
and its OF eat growth. What are the causes
which have led to the rapid growth of this
country; what has brought about results
so unparalleled, il it be not the influence
of political institutions. founded upon the
equality of the citizen. and coupled with
it the principle of protecting ami building
M, within our own borders, our own in-
dustries.
1t becomes Republicans, who believe
thst ii is through their efforts that the
country is what it is to dau. that they see
Ia IL that eyarv eff arr is mad, a., ,,.,o.n